I cannot remember having a Christmas stocking as a child, though we always hung pillowcases at the foot of our beds.

An apocryphal story was told every year of my mother and aunt, as children, waking early and delving in the dark into their Christmas stockings. The house at that time did not have electricity and they thought they had come across a box of chocolates and opened it up to eat them before breakfast. But to their dismay they found them too hard and later discovered it was a box of dominoes!

My first attempt at making stockings for my family was a simple patchwork - right.

I later wanted to reflect the fact my daughter was older and had started learning languages at High School. I combined the idea with﻿ my love of cross stitch, whilst the tartan ribbon reflects our Scottish connection.

Other stockings as tree decorations (below) again reflect my crossstitch hobby, whilst others are fond reminders of holidays - the lace stocking from Bruges, the golden boot (as the red boot above) from Austria and the brocade stocking was bought at the shop of the Royal Opera House in London after seeing a magical performance of the ballet "Sleeping Beauty".

About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.